


I'll Be Here When You Wake

by casesandcapitals



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Amnesia, Angst, Coma, Drunk Driving, M/M, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-06
Updated: 2013-12-16
Packaged: 2017-11-23 22:42:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/627320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/casesandcapitals/pseuds/casesandcapitals
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gerard visits Frank every single day</p><p>(Now with a happy ending!)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The crash was... it was bad.  
A drunk guy in his forties had swerved into the oncoming lane just as Frank had been passing. The drunk driver had died on impact, Frank's car had flipped three times.  
That was over two months ago.

"Good afternoon, Gerard," said the receptionist, Janet.  
"Hello," Gerard answered, pausing at her desk. "Can I go up?"  
"Of course, dear."  
Gerard smiled at the blonde woman then made his way to the elevator. He didn't even have to look as he reached to push the number 3 button. Everyday after school Gerard would drive to the hospital, go up to the third floor, and visit Frank.  
The elevator doors opened quietly and Gerard hoisted his backpack up on his shoulder before starting off down the hallway. Frank's room was brightly lit and cheery looking. It was filled with flowers and balloons. Gerard smiled at the cluster of Halloween themed balloons he had just recently left there.  
"Hey, Frankie," Gerard said as he sat down next to the hospital bed. "How's it feel to be 17, huh?"  
His smile faded a bit as he watched Frank's chest rise and fall as oxygen was pushed into his lungs. He listened to the beeping monitor that broadcasted Frank's heartbeat to the world. A nurse must have been in to bathe him today, because his hair was still damp. Gerard brushed a lock out of his eyes and smiled again.  
"Your birthday party was killer man, you would've loved it." Gerard paused to pull a pack of pictures out of his backpack, then looked back at Frank's closed eyes. "Even Bob came, and you know how much he hates parties. I brought the pictures for you, too."  
Gerard opened the paper packet and began showing the unconscious boy photo after photo.  
"Alicia nailed Mikey right in the face with some cake, it was classic." Gerard chuckled into the silent room. "He was so pissed, frosting all over his glasses and in his hair." He flipped to a different picture and angled it so Frank could see, if he had been looking. "There's Bob trying to look all tough drinking beer. There's Ray, he misses playing guitar with you man, he wouldn't shut up about the new songs he wants to teach you. You should see his hair too, it's completely out of control now...."  
Gerard sorted through each picture, showing them to an unconscious Frank and telling the empty room about the party. When he was done he took the best ones (Mikey covered in frosting, Ray grinning and waving at the camera, Bob flipping the camera off, Quinn licking frosting off Mikey's face and Mikey trying to hit him, and of course the group photo of everyone holding a banner that read 'Happy Birthday Frank!') and he pinned them to a corkboard then set it up against a vase of flowers on Frank's bedside table.  
Gerard looked back at Frank and the smile slide off his face.  
"You should have been there, Frankie. I wish you had been." Gerard reached over to grab Frank's hand, rubbing small circles into his skin with his thumb. "Everyone had a great time, there were lots of toasts made in your honor. I think Ray is still hung over, actually. But it would have been better if you were there."  
Frank didn't say anything, or open his eyes, or give any indication of waking up. Gerard sighed.  
"I know, I know. You'd tell me to _cheer up motherfucker_ , but I can't Frankie. I miss you."  
There was a knock on the door and Gerard looked up to see one of the nurses leaning her head in. It was Vickie.  
"Hey, Gerard," she said, walking into the room. "How is he today?"  
Gerard smiled back down at Frank's face. "He's good, you know. I was just telling him about his awesome birthday party that he missed out on."  
"Oh yeah? Are those the pictures?" She turned away from the monitors to look as Gerard handed her the corkboard. "Oh wow, it looks like a great party." She handed the board back to Gerard and he set it back in it's place. "He's gonna love to see those when he wakes up."  
"Yeah," Gerard sighed. "So, anything new?"  
Vickie looked over the chart that hung from the end of Frank's bed. "A little brain activity last night, that happens sometimes. Some eye movement this morning."  
Gerard nodded, he'd seen that happen once or twice.  
Vickie sighed and hung the chart back up. "He's trying Gerard, he wants to wake up."  
"Yeah, I know." He looked back at the boy's peaceful face. "And I'll be here everyday until he does, and everyday after."  
Vickie gave him a sad smile, patted him on the arm, then left the room.  
Gerard stayed with Frank for a while after that. Eventually, though, he had to leave.  
"It's ridiculous Frankie, you know? Only two months into Senior year and they're already acting like finals are tomorrow. I have so much homework today, it's outrageous. I'd stay with you longer but I have to go write a paper for Mr. Camden, fucking prick."  
Gerard stood up and slung his backpack over his shoulders. He sighed and brushed his thumb along Frank's cheek, something he couldn't wait to do again once Frank was awake.  
"I'll see you tomorrow afternoon, okay Frank?"  
Frank didn't say anything, or open his eyes, or give any indication of ever waking up.  
"Yeah, I'll see you then, Frankie."

The End.


	2. Frank Wakes Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I originally was going to turn this into a much longer story, but after months of staring at the same text, I decided I would just post what I have and leave it at that.

Gerard stayed up completing his homework and didn't get to sleep until almost 11:30. He had just gotten into a deep sleep when stomping on the basement stairs woke him up.  
"Gerard! Gee! Wake the fuck up!"  
"Wha-?"  
Someone threw his bedroom door open and ran over to him. They started shaking him.  
"Wake up asshole!"  
It was Mikey.  
"Jesus," Gerard slurred. "What the fuck? Where's the fire?"  
"No fire, you moron," Mikey shouted at him. "He's awake!"  
Gerard's eyes flew open. "What? Frank?"  
"Yes, idiot. I just got the call, let's go!"  
It didn't matter that it was almost 2am, Gerard jumped out of bed and threw a pair of jeans on, then stumbled up the basement stairs after his younger brother.  
Both their parents were sitting at the kitchen table in bathrobes, holding a cup of coffee each.  
Gerard barely paused as his mom told him to stay as long as he wanted and to call them and let them know what's going on.  
Mikey was already waiting in the car when Gerard climbed into the driver's seat.  
Visiting hours were way past over, but a nurse was waiting by the front doors to let them in.  
"His parent's are with him right now, you boys go on up," she said with a little smile.  
"Thanks," Mikey muttered as Gerard took off ahead of him.  
The wait in the elevator was terrible and both brothers couldn't help but bounce on their toes as they slowly ascended the two floors.  
They tried not to run down the dark hallway, but couldn't help themselves as they saw light pouring out of Frank's room.  
Gerard barely had a glimpse of Frank sitting up in his bed before him and Mikey were being herded back out into the hallway by a doctor and Frank's dad.  
"Boys, we need to talk to you before you go in to see him," Frank's dad said, holding his arms out so Mikey couldn't sneak around him.  
"Why, what's wrong?" Gerard asked, going still. He glanced between the doctor and Frank's dad until finally, the doctor spoke up.  
"Frank has some retrograde amnesia," he said.  
Gerard's stomach flipped over.  
"Meaning he's lost a significant chunk of his memory from before the accident," he continued. "We're going to run some tests to see how severe of a case it is. He might regain some of his memory with time and therapy, but until then you need to go real easy on him, he might not remember you at first."  
Mikey was speechless, but Gerard opened his mouth right away.  
"Can we see him, please?"  
"It's up to-" the doctor started, looking to Frank's dad, but he cut him off.  
"Of course it's okay," Frank's dad said, looking like he was holding back tears. "They're his best friends."  
The older men moved away from the door and Gerard and Mikey hesitantly stepped through.  
Frank looked up at them but didn't say anything. Frank's mom, who had been sitting in the chair Gerard normally occupied, stood and crossed the room to hug them.  
"Oh boys, I'm so glad you came. I'll give you a few minutes with him, alright?" She looked like she was about to break down, so they let her leave the room without delay.  
When the door was shut behind her, both boys moved forward.  
"Hey Frank," Mikey said, taking the vacated chair.  
"Um, hey," Frank answered. He obviously didn't recognize them.  
"Oh, uh." Mikey paused awkwardly. "I'm Mikey, this is my brother Gerard."  
Gerard carefully sat on the end of Frank's bed as the boy swept his eyes over them both.  
"Nice to mee- oh, well. I've probably meet you before haven't I?" Frank asked, giving them a lopsided smile. "Sorry," he added, "I don't really-"  
"No, it's okay," Gerard cut in. "We understand."  
Frank took a moment to stare each of their faces in turn, then he smiled.  
"Yeah, you're from the pictures," he muttered. He reached over and grabbed the cork board that Gerard had set there only a few hours ago. His grip was shaky and he quickly set the board down in his lap. "First thing I saw when I woke up," he said, smiling down at the photos.  
"Oh, dude, really?" Mikey said. "You put in the ones of me covered in cake?"  
Gerard and Frank both laughed.  
"Yeah man, those were the best," Gerard smiled.  
"I have to agree." Frank stared at the pictures for a moment more, then tapped his finger on the group picture of them holding up the banner. "So, my birthday party huh?"  
"Yeah," Mikey said. "It was a few days ago."  
"Oh, that makes me feel better about not remembering it, I guess." He looked back up to Gerard and Mikey. "So, we're friends, I'm assuming?"  
"I'm your best friend, motherfucker," Mikey laughed.  
Frank laughed too. "I bet."  
"And Gerard is my creepy older brother that hangs out with lower class man," Mikey said.  
Gerard rolled his eyes. "More like you're my loser younger brother that tags along with his brother's friends."  
Frank laughed before Mikey could argue back. He waved his hand over all the pictures.  
"I don't recognize any of these people," he said with a sigh.  
Mikey didn't waste any time leaning over and pointing out different faces.  
"That's Bob."  
"He looks mean."  
"He's not really, he's a big fucking teddy bear. And that's Ray."  
"Look at that freakin' hair."  
"I know right? I don't know why he decided to grow it out. There's Alicia. There's Quinn and Bert... that's James-"  
"Hey, um," Frank said softly.  
They both looked over at him.  
"You okay?" Gerard asked quickly.  
"I've got this like, killer headache going? And I'm super tired."  
"Oh, jeez. We'll let you sleep," Gerard said climbing off of the bed.  
"Yeah, shit. We'll send your doctor back in, okay?" Mikey set the photo board back on the table and stood.  
Frank laid back into his pillows. "You'll come back though, right? Like, tomorrow or something?"  
Mikey was already out in the hallway, telling the doctor that Frank's head hurt, so Gerard smiled down at him. "Of course, Frank. I'm here everyday."  
Frank smiled slightly but looked a little confused.  
"How long have I been out?" he asked.  
"About ten weeks," Gerard sighed.  
"And you came here everyday?" Frank asked.  
Gerard smiled and nodded.  
"Oh, are we-?"  
Frank was cut off by the doctor entering the room and ushering Gerard out.  
Gerard gave a quick "See you tomorrow, Frankie!" before the door was shut on him.

Gerard and Mikey were not about to go to school the next day. Not only did they get hardly any sleep, but they both wanted to go back to the hospital to see Frank as soon as possible.  
Their mom called the school for them and they left at noon. Gerard said hello to the receptionist on their way in and calmly hit the 3rd floor button in the elevator. When they got to Frank's room, his parents were just leaving.  
"He's sleeping," his mom said. "We were going to go get lunch, you want to join us?"  
"Yeah, I'll come," Mikey said.  
"Do you mind if I stay?" Gerard asked. "I won't wake him up."  
"Of course, Gerard."  
Frank's parents and Mikey took off down the hallway and Gerard eased the door open to slip inside.  
Frank was asleep, but not in the same comatose way he had been before. Now he was curled up on his side with one hand tucked under his head. He was still hooked up to a few machines and the wires were wrapped around his thin torso.  
Gerard smiled down at him then took his usual seat. He sat for a few minutes before he leaned forward and crossed his arms on the bed, then set his head down to shut his eyes.  
He didn't quite fall asleep before he felt Frank move about twenty minutes later. He sat up and smiled when he saw that his brown eyes were open.  
"Hey Frankie."  
Frank smiled. "Hey. Gerard, right?"  
"Yeah, how do you feel?"  
"Foggy, you know? It's weird."  
Gerard nodded even know he didn't actually know.  
"They gave me all these tests this morning," Frank said. "I hate MRIs by the way."  
Gerard shuddered. "I don't blame you."  
Frank chuckled. "Yeah, but they were asking me all these questions and stuff, trying to see how much I had lost. It weirded me out."  
"I can imagine."  
"Not to mention how weird it is to see my parents looking years older than I remember them, you know? I don't even want to look in the mirror because I'm scared I won't recognize myself."  
Gerard couldn't help but reach out a hand to hold onto Frank. He rubbed his thumb in small circles again and Frank smiled down at their hands.  
"I meant to ask you last night," Frank said, blushing. "Are we dating?"  
Gerard stopped moving his thumb. "Oh, uh.... No, we're not."  
"Oh. I just kinda figured when you said you visited me everyday, you know? And kind of from the way you look at me."  
Gerard blushed and made to pull his hand away. "No, sorry. I- uh- I didn't mean to weird you out or anything."  
"No, hey. It's alright." Frank grabbed Gerard's hand back again. "It feels nice, anyway," he said with a smile. He fell silent for a few moments while he looked around the room so Gerard started making circles on his hand again.  
"I've got a bunch of friends, huh?" Frank said, motioning to all the balloons and flowers with his free hand.  
"Yeah."  
"Are any from you?" Frank asked.  
"The Jack-O-Lantern ones," Gerard said, looking over his shoulder at the group of balloons. "And I brought the pictures for you."  
"Thanks," Frank said with a smile.  
The boys fell silent again for a few minutes.  
"So," Frank said eventually. "A drunk driver, huh?"  
Gerard sighed and looked down at his shoes. "They told you?"  
Frank shrugged. "I asked."  
"You were on your way over to me and Mikey's house," Gerard sighed. "You never even would have been out that night if I hadn't texted you...."  
"That doesn't make it your fault."  
"'Course is does," Gerard muttered.  
"Is that why you were here everyday? Because you felt guilty?"  
Gerard looked up to Frank's eyes. There was a strong blush set high in his cheeks that made him look completely adorable.  
"No, I would've been here everyday anyway."  
"You'll still come here, right? The doctor said I'm gonna have to stay for a while."  
"Yeah, yeah of course, Frankie."  
"That's good." Frank's eyelids were starting to droop. How could he still be tired after sleeping for two and a half months? "I like you, Gerard."  
Gerard blushed bright red as Frank slurred out his confession just before falling asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and so Gerard visits Frank everyday after school like he had been and Frank falls in love with him (all over again since he was secretly in love with Gerard before the accident but never would have admitted it) and Gerard finally makes a move and kisses Frank and they live happily ever after even though Frank never gets all of his memory back.  
> The End.


	3. Chapter 3

Frank kept his eyes clenched shut, letting Gerard keep him steady with hands on his hips.  
"Ready?" Gerard asked softly.  
"I don't know," Frank admitted.  
"You gotta look sometime, Frankie."  
Frank took a deep breath then slowly opened his eyes.  
At first he didn't recognize the person in the mirror at all. He was older, his hair was messy, he had shadows under his eyes and he was very thin. He kept searching the face until he started to see himself through it.  
Those were his eyes alright, the same color he remembered. And his jaw was the same, same crooked teeth, same nose, same eyebrows.  
"Huh."  
Gerard was looking at him in the mirror as well, over Frank's shoulder.  
"What do you think?" Gerard asked.  
"What do _you_ think?" Frank countered.  
"You look like you, a little thinner and more tired, but it's still Frank."  
Frank grinned and recognized his own smile. It made him feel a little better.  
"I need a hair cut," Frank said, lifting a hand to push his fingers through the messy strands.  
"Do you remember who usually cuts your hair?" Gerard questioned gently, keeping his warm hands on Frank's hips.  
"Donna, right? You and Mikey's mom."  
Gerard nodded, smiling. "Yup. As soon as you get out of here you can come over and she'll cut it for you."  
"Cool."  
Frank watched his reflection a few more seconds before he turned to leave the bathroom. Gerard helped him walk back to his hospital bed.  
Frank dug under his pillow for his list. He had started it as soon as his weak fingers would let him hold a pen again, so he could write down everything he remembered from before, or things he learned after that he didn't want to forget. The doctor said it was fine as long as it didn't become an obsessive habit.  
Frank found a blank spot in the corner of the paper and scribbled down that he looked older now but it was still him.  
"Anything new since yesterday?" Gerard asked from his bedside chair.  
Frank handed his list over so Gerard could see.  
"I remembered playing a Halo match with you and Ray, and Ray won and you got all pissy," Frank grinned.  
"Ray cheats," Gerard mumbled, eyes scanning the paper. Frank laughed.  
The list always made Gerard feel at ease because it was more and more filled in everyday.  
At the very top, in Frank's messy scrawl;  
 **My name is Frank, I'm 17. Mikey Way is my best friend. I don't like MRIs. I have lots of friends. Gerard Way visits me everyday.**  
Somewhere in the middle he had added;  
 **Gerard Way is my boyfriend.** And that bit always made Gerard smile, because it was true now.  
Gerard took Frank's pen and scribbled at the bottom **Ray Toro cheats at video games.** He handed it back to Frank, who laughed when he read it.  
"Two more days and I'm a free man," Frank sighed, resting back on his pillows.  
"Your parents are driving you home, but I'll be waiting for you at your house," Gerard reminded him.  
"Okay."  
"Are you tired?"  
"A bit, yeah."  
"I'll let you sleep. I have homework anyway."  
Frank reached out to hold Gerard's hand on top of the white sheets.  
"You'll be back tomorrow, right?" he asked.  
"I'll be back tomorrow," Gerard confirmed. He leaned forward to press a kiss onto Frank's chapped lips. "Got to sleep, Frankie. I'll see you tomorrow.  
"Okay."  
Frank let his eyes slip shut as Gerard stood. He leaned over and pressed another soft kiss to Frank's forehead, which made Frank grin, then said goodbye.  
Frank fell asleep clutching his memory list, a smile on his thin face.


End file.
